IRINA GANCHOVA: WHEN IN DOUBT, CHECK IT OUT YOURSELF

MoveSense AI started when a worried mother, Irina Ganchova, spent significant time and resources trying to answer an important question: whether her young daughter had posture problems. After all the frenzy, Mrs Ganchova realised two things. First, it would be invaluable to have a well designed AI-based app that assesses children's posture and identifies potential issues. Second, she could create this app herself. She had crucial previous experience as an entrepreneur and manager and she was a respected marketing professional.

Today, MoveSense AI is ready to support parents and children and to improve the quality of healthcare in Bulgaria and beyond.

The idea for MoveSense AI was born from a personal experience. But did you have previous experience with creating a startup?

Yes, I have previous entrepreneurial and management experience, but MoveSense AI is my first deep-tech/health-tech startup. Before it, I built and developed businesses in digital marketing and business development: working with product and B2B brands, building strategies, managing teams, budgets and growth. This experience gave me the discipline to turn personal motivation into a clear product with specific user scenarios, measurable goals and a sustainable go-to-market.

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome before MoveSense AI took its first steps on the market?

The biggest challenge was trust – translating a strong idea into a solution that is both technologically functional and responsible towards the most sensitive audience: children. This included several layers at the same time:

• Clinical logic and validation: structuring the product around established frameworks for motor development and building a methodology that makes sense to specialists, not only to parents.
• Ethical boundary: positioning MoveSense AI as a tool for guidance and monitoring, not as a "diagnosis from your phone".
• Security and data protection, because when you work with children's data, "privacy-first" is not marketing but a mandatory condition for sustainable development.
• Product experience: making the complex simple: the parent should receive clarity and direction, not anxiety and incomprehensible indicators.

How did you find investors who believed in your vision?

We approached it systematically, as a process of building trust in stages. With deep-tech solutions, investors do not "buy" just an idea. They look for proof that the team can deliver. At an early stage, the strongest "investor" is often the first professional or partner who says: "This is needed and it makes sense."

We started with a clear definition of the problem and specific use cases (parents + specialists).

We prepared a strong story plus clear product evidence: a prototype, demonstrations, feedback from experts, a validation plan and a regulatory pathway.

We used the right channels: targeted introductions, international communities, accelerators and events, as well as European funding instruments that reduce risk in the early stages.

In conversations I focused on three things: the size of the problem, trust (clinical framework + security) and a realistic scaling plan.

Data shows that female-led startups face greater difficulty in attracting funding than male-led ones. Did you notice anything like that in your case?

There are differences and they are noticeable, especially in deep-tech. Public analyses for Europe and the United States show that female teams receive a significantly smaller share of VC funding and in Europe female teams are often below 1% of total capital in certain years. In a deep-tech context, the European Commission has published data showing that female deep-tech startups receive a smaller share of funding compared to their proportion as companies.

What this looks like in practice is that you more often receive "risk questions" about what might go wrong instead of "growth questions" about how you will scale and you need to be twice as prepared with evidence, metrics and a clear plan. I respond to this with discipline: clearer documentation, stronger validation steps and very specific KPIs.

Is there, in your view, a female style in entrepreneurship and if so, what is it?

I do not believe in a single "female style" – there are different personalities and approaches. But there are qualities I often see in women entrepreneurs which, for me personally, are a strength:

• Empathy plus attention to detail: a deeper understanding of the real problem and a stronger user experience.
• Collaborative leadership: building trust through partnerships and communities, not only through "hard" sales.
• Long-term thinking: sustainability, ethics, risk management, especially important in health and education solutions.

At MoveSense AI we translate this in the following way: technology matters but trust is the product.

How do you see MoveSense AI in five years?

In five years, my goal is for MoveSense AI to be an established platform for prevention and monitoring of motor development, with an international presence and a strong network of partners.

Our app has a potential for global expansion, as it is a multilingual product adapted to different markets and practices. It also has potential for clinical  integration in working models with specialists such as physiotherapists, orthopaedists and rehabilitation therapists, structured reports and long term monitoring as a standard.

MoveSense AI could play a role in education and prevention, when used in partnerships with sports academies, schools and children's centres, programmes for healthy habits and posture. The app is based on the philosophy of AI as a partner, not a substitute. It is a tool that helps the parent react in time and supports the specialist with better information, without claiming to "replace" human expertise.

On a personal level, I see MoveSense AI as an example that female leadership in technology can be both bold, competent and responsible.

www.movesenseai.com